MINISTRY

'God can achieve his purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or the abandonment of reliance on them. All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on him made possible the unique display of his power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.'

Oswald Chmabers in Kent and Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry form the Success Syndrome, p.134.

SUFFERING

'I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it were ever possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence by means of some drug or other medical mubo-jumbo, as Aldous Huxley envisaged in in Brave New World, the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable.'

Malcolm Muggeridge in Kent and Barbara Hughes, Liberting Ministry for the Success Syndrome, p.121.

SIN

'Often we say, "Well, I'm not very religious, but I'm a good person - and that is what is most important." But is it? Imagine a woman - a poor widow - with an only son. She teaches him how she wants him to live - to always tell the truth, to work hard, and to help the poor. She makes very little money, but with her meager savings she is able to put him through college. Imagine that when he graduates, he hardly ever speaks to her again. He occasionally sends a Christmas card, but he doesn't visit her; he won't answer her phone calls or letters; he doesn't speak to her. But he lives just as she taught him - honestly, industriously and charitably. Would we say this was acceptable? Of course not! Wouldn't we say that by living a "good life" but neglecting a relationship with the one to whom he owed everything he was doing something condemnable? In the same way, if God created us and we owe him everything and we do not live for him but we "live a good life," it is not enough. We owe him a debt that must be paid.'

Timothy Keller, Center Church, p.34.

IDOLATRY

'Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship...is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough...Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you...Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need even more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidous things about these forms of worship is...they're unconscious. They are default settings.'

David Foster Wallace in Timothy Keller, Center Church, p.34.

THE GOSPEL

'God saves sinners. God - the triune Jehovah Father, Son and Spirit, three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to acheive the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father's will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of the Father and the Son by renewing. Saves - does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, acheives and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners - men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God's will or better their spiritual lot.' 

JI Packer in Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, p.30.  

REPENTANCE

'...repentance is the vomit of the soul...'
Thomas Brooks in Christopher Ash, Pure Joy, p.178.

THE CROSS

'We need not, and cannot, add to what Jesus has done. We do not need, and are not able, to do anything more to have a cleansed consience. Imagine going in to a famous art gallery wth a child's paintbrush and paints in your coat pocket. You stand before some great work of art by Rubens or Michaelangelo, quietly get out your paintbrush and - when the attendants are not watching - start adding your own touches of paint. When challenged, you say, "Well, it's a lovely painting. But I thought it had a few parts missing. So I was touching it up. I hope that's OK." No, it is not OK. You are ruining it! In the same way, I cannot add anything to Jesus' completed work of redemption on the cross, without taking away from its value.'

Christopher Ash, Pure Joy, p.139.  

PRAYER

'Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to minister. Pray, therefore, my dear brother, pray, pray, pray.'

Edward Payson in Kent & Barbara Huges, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, p.78.

PRAYER

'What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need - the need of himslef? What if the good of all our smaller and lower needs lies in this, that they help drive us to God?

Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other needs; prayer is the beginning of that communion.'

George Macdonald in Kent & Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, p.72.

JESUS

'What you believe about Jesus is everything. If you believe that his Creator of everything, every cosmic speck across trillions of light years of trackless space, the Creator of the textures and shapes and colors that dazzle our eyes; if you believe that he is the Sustainer of all creation, the force presently holding the atoms of your body and this universe together, and that without him all would dissolve; if you believe that he is the goal of everyuthing, that all creation is moving toward him; if you further believe that this God is the lover  of your soul - then you believe in the God that "is," you believe that the God of the Holy Scriptures exists.'

Kent & Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry for n the Success Sydrome, p.68.